


Homecoming

by Gallicenae



Series: Dragon Age - Mages and Templars [4]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Month of Fanfiction, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 08:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallicenae/pseuds/Gallicenae
Summary: Cullen returns to his family in Skyhold after weeks away. Post-Trespasser.





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> \- Day 3 of A Month of Fanfiction challenge  
> \- Prompt: Family

“Did you see it?!” Daveth gripped his brother tightly, shaking Michael’s arm in his excitement. “A dragon egg! A real one!”

“Shhh! We’re not s’posed to know!”

The twins peeked around a doorway in the lower levels of Skyhold, their mischievous eyes glittering in the torchlight. Their father had been away to the north for several weeks and had only just returned with a caravan full of wonders they couldn’t wait to see. He gave a few exasperated instructions to his men as they passed through a heavy door and disappeared into depths the boys had yet to explore.

“Let’s go!” Daveth shot out from their cover, prepared to dash after the train of men carrying all the treasures.

Michael pulled at his brother’s sleeve. “We’re not s’posed to go down there! Not even here!”

Daveth mimicked Michael’s protests, pitching his voice so it became a whine. “ _We’re not s’posed to. We’re not s’posed to._ ” He directed his arms for emphasis, hoping that would be enough to convince his brother. “You’re here. I’m here. Let’s go _there._ ”

His twin stepped out from the shadows, eyeing the length of the corridor with a frown. “Then... let’s come back. Later.”

Daveth’s shoulders slumped forward, defeated. “The door will be locked.”

“What if... we got the key?”

“How are we going to-”

The two of them lit up at the same time, the answer to their question running off their lips all at once. “Anya!”

Their voices echoed off the stone walls, summoning their father from the trove with an extra hurry in his step. “Oh? What’s this? What are you boys doing down here?”

Cullen’s stance was firm, exceptionally grounded from his training as a warrior. The twins were lighter on their feet, but they hadn’t grown enough to yet outrun his quick paces, even though Daveth would constantly try.

“We were...”

“... going to...”

They looked at each other, unsure of what to say, but definitively against the idea of getting into trouble.  
  
“Mmhmm?” Cullen crossed his arms, amused at having caught his boys before they’d managed to wreak any havoc.

Michael stepped forward and blew a stream of air up over his face to move the waves that had fallen over his eyes. “We wanted to see what you got.”

Cullen lowered himself to a knee, beckoning them closer. “Did you now? And what is it you think I’ve brought with me?”

“Dra-”

Daveth hurriedly covered up his brother’s mouth before giving their father a toothy grin. “Nothing.”

The Commander allowed himself a small smile, raising his eyebrow at Daveth’s game. “Well, you are correct, I have nothing.” Cullen scooped his twins up like bags of flour, one in each arm, “Which means there’s absolutely no reason for either of you to be down here.”

Cullen hauled his children through the corridors of Skyhold, asking them if they’d been training while he was away and how his three favorite girls were getting on. The boys were relaxed in their father’s embrace, but made a show of complaining when they were in earshot of guests.

The twins knew appearances were important, but Cullen had grown used to their antics over the last six years, and paid far less attention to his reputation around the castle. It was their home now more than it was their stronghold, and whoever chose to visit was made well aware of that upon entering the front gate. There were no Inquisition banners, no sigils to show allegiance to either Chantry or country, Templars or Circle. Though it was still draped in Warden blue, the keep had become sparse, the dais at the back empty of a throne.

When the Inquisition was disbanded, Cassandra had seen to it that Skyhold would remain in Rhian’s hands. Orlais had attempted to argue the point, but when the Theirins gave their approval and welcome, the Orlesians begrudgingly agreed. Divine Victoria had confided in Rhian and Cullen that the decision was for more sentimental reasons than any political endeavor, but she hoped it could continue to be a home for them. Something to come back to, she’d said.

The majority of soldiers, templars and mages included, had all returned home, free of their promises of duty. Those who had chosen to stay built a village in the valley, offering their services should Skyhold ever have need of them. The towers that had been devoted to magical study and templar practices remained, becoming repositories of knowledge Rhian readily shared with any who sought them.

Leliana had decided to stay with them at Skyhold, claiming Rhian was the closest thing to family she had left. Since Amelia had been born, their spymaster had allowed herself a measure of softness, often singing the child to sleep when she believed no one was listening. Cullen and Rhian could never fault her for that.

“Daaaaad!”

Cullen looked down at the rowdiest of his children as they came to the door leading up to the tower. Daveth squirmed to be let down, and Cullen released the pair of them.

“Mum’s not up there.” Michael offered.

“She hasn’t been to her room in days.”

“Well,” Cullen put his hands on his twins’ heads, “where is she then?”

The boys ran for the rotunda and made their way through the door leading to the rampart causeway. Cullen didn’t give chase, knowing exactly where the two were headed.

Michael had waited for him halfway across the bridge, taking Cullen’s hand as they continued toward his old post. Daveth had left the door open and was sitting on the corner of the old desk. Anya was behind it, braiding Amelia’s curly head as she perched next to her brother.

“Papa!” Amelia clapped her hands and made to slide down off the desk, a height that should have had more bearing on a four-year-old. Michael dropped Cullen’s hand to help keep her on balance until their father swept her up and held her aloft, kissing her nose. He readjusted her position and tucked his youngest against his chest before moving to place a kiss on Anya’s forehead.

“She’s missed you.” Anya smiled up at her father.

“I should say so with that kind of greeting.”

She took her baby sister from his arms and nodded toward the room above, “Not Lia, Mother.”

“The twins tell me she hasn’t been to her quarters for some time.”

Anya patted Daveth’s back, signaling him to move down off the desk and toward the door. “Those two say a lot of things. She’s been up a few times, but I doubt she’s been sleeping there.”

“You’ve been staying up at all hours yourself, have you?”

“I offered to help with her research on the Blight so she could attend to other matters.”

Cullen nodded. Anya was the only one of their children to have known Rhian as the Warden and then as Inquisitor, the only one to have first-hand knowledge of what the Inquisition had been through before being disbanded. It was still very much the pair of them - mother and daughter - a separate relationship that Cullen could never quite breach or understand. Rhian had been the one to raise her, out in the world and criss-crossing Thedas. Cullen hadn’t even known she’d existed until Kirkwall fell. But he loved that Anya was his, and that she was just as he remembered Rhian to be when they were young.

“Let’s avoid any bedtime stories with dragons tonight, shall we?”

Anya gave him a knowing grin, and shuffled her brothers out of the room. “Might be hard with Bull here, but I’ll see what I can do.”

As soon as the door closed behind his children, Cullen pulled his arms back and stretched, turning his neck to loosen the ache from a long day. He took his mantle off and hung it over the chair by the shelf, pulling off his muddied boots in the process. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the feel of these flagstones under his bare feet.

The hatch above the ladder to his old chambers was closed. Cullen announced himself with a subtle knock before pushing the wooden door upward. Rhian had patched the hole in the roof in his absence, but Cullen smiled when he realized she’d had windows put in to keep the breezes he liked. She was on her side in the bed, covered completely save for a bare shoulder. There were missives and candle stubs strewn about the floor, and Cullen picked each up to remove the clutter. The floorboards didn’t creak as they once had, and Cullen guessed Rhian had had them reinforced as well. She’d been keeping herself busy.

He lowered himself slowly onto the bed, waiting for a moment before kissing his wife on the chilled skin of her shoulder. Cullen tucked himself against her back and wrapped his arms around her.

Rhian leaned back against him, a lazy hand searching for his. “You’re back?”

“Mm.” Cullen bent his head forward, his nose brushing up against her neck allowing him to drink her in.

“I’m glad.”


End file.
